Sweater Makeover - Duplicate Stitch Heart Elbow Patches

After the fun I had adding pretty patches to this chunky knit, no sweater in my closet is safe! I was inspired by Karen Barbé's intarsia patch tutorial on mending her well-loved arm warmers. I decided to use the duplicate stitch technique and try to give this old sweater a new, more colorful, life. Thankfully this sweater is a thick knit, so it didn't take me too long to stitch on the hearts. I decided to add the hearts around the cuffs because I wanted the awesomeness of this sweater to be visible from all angles. It's like wearing little heart bracelets and I love it!

The elbow patches were a little trickier because I had to make sure they covered my elbow and didn't end up floating too high around my biceps. Ha. Biceps. I printed out a simple heart shape from Microsoft Word, attached it to the proper elbow-centric location on my arm, and outlined the heart with a running stitch. I started out simply trying to fill it in with duplicate stitches, but it looked a bit off and wouldn't stay in even rows. So I did my best to work within the heart shape and create an even pattern. I'm so glad it worked because I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

I love all of my crazy sweaters, down to the last swan and polkadot, but I think this one might be my new favorite. I guess it's the DIY pride in taking an old, bulky, Target sale-rack sweater and making it my own. Plus, the hearts are just in time for February!

So what do you think? Should I sport this beauty on Valentine's day? Too obvious?